Thread: Canadian woman killed in Mexico

Canadian woman killed in Mexico

By David Gaddis Smith
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. September 20, 2009

A Canadian woman living in Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, was stabbed more than 30 times and killed last week in her condominium.{QL} Police arrested fisherman JoseÌ

Canadian woman slain in Mexico

Les Perreaux

Montreal — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009 12:19PM EDT

Renée Wathelet dreamed of turning her social media hobby into a portable business that would allow her to move permanently from Montreal to an island paradise.

Mexican officials had given her the final stamps of approval to live out the fantasy of an internet consulting business when her life met a bloody end.

Ms. Wathelet, 60, died on Thursday in her apartment on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, after an intruder bent on stealing jewellery and her laptop computer stabbed her 46 times and cut her throat.

Mexican police said they arrested a 24-year-old boatman named Jose Joaquin Palacios Garza at the scene carrying a bloody knife. Investigators described Mr. Palacios as an acquaintance of Ms. Wathelet who was intoxicated and mentally ill.

Ms. Wathelet was popular friend and collaborator among Montreal's bloggers.

Originally from Belgium, she moved to Montreal decades ago and worked as an investment adviser. Last year, the divorced mother of three adult children quit her job. In May, she moved to Isla Mujeres, a place best known as a peaceful refuge from the nearby Yucatan tourist hotspot, Cancun.

“She grew tired of the bullshit involved in her [investment] career, she wanted to do new things,â€